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pressure to the wolf. If the horse pulls away from the wolf, he helps the predator rip his belly open.
    So how do you get the horse to understand that you want his head to go down? How do you communicate that when he wants to push against the pressure by raising his head?
    How would I do it with a dog? How would I get Benji to understand a desired action?
    I would reward him with a treat.
    And what is reward to a horse? I asked myself with a knowing smile.
    Release of pressure. Comfort, I said smugly.
    And off I went to gather Monsieur le Cash.
    This time it went swimmingly. I applied the slightest of downward pressure to the lead rope. Not trying to pull his head down. Just enough to counter his upward resistance. And I held it. The discomfort to Cash was minimal. Just the pressure of the rope halter. Before long, Cash lowered his head, just enough to release the pressure, and I immediately dropped the lead rope, rubbed him on the forehead, and praised him.
    Then we did it again. This time he dropped his head sooner, and went farther down, and I released the rope, as Clinton Anderson says, like it was a hot potato.
    Before long, Cash’s response was almost instantaneous, dropping his head as much as ten to twelve inches. I pulled out a folding chair and sat down to see if he would drop all the way to my lap. Three sets of pressure and release, and he was there. I could’ve bridled him from the chair. Granted, Cash is very intuitive. He gets things quickly and is very willing. Others of our horses would take longer. But now they all have learned this task.
    The next step was to ask Cash to leave his head down, rather than immediately lift it up upon the release of pressure. To communicate that, when I released the rope, I released it just a little. When he lifted up, he bumped back into pressure from the rope and immediately dropped again.
    He was soon staying down until I completely released the rope and said, “Okay. Good boy.”
    I was grinning from ear to ear.
    Not so much because he had done the task, but because I had watched his wheels turn. I had seen the intake of understanding that I was asking for something that was completely counter to his genetics, but because I was a trusted leader, he could respond safely, without worry. Willingly.
    And he did.
    We tromped up the driveway to the front door of our house and I called for Kathleen.
    “Come out! I’ve gotta show you something!” You would’ve thought I had found the cure for cancer.
    The door swung open and she almost swallowed the plum she was eating. She had never seen a horse at the front door before. Cash was virtually inside, his curiosity working overtime.
    I demonstrated Cash’s new feat and rattled on about the learning process. The discovery of pressure and release.
    “Have you tried that with his ears?” she asked.
    Cash had come to us with one rule:
Do not ever touch my ears!
    We had often wondered what might’ve happened in the past to cause this reaction. I’ve heard of trainers who have been known to twist an ear to make a horse do or accept something. Whatever it was, we couldn’t get close. Couldn’t even scratch Cash between the ears.
    “Good idea!” I said.
    The
pressure,
in this instance, would come from his own fear of humans touching his ears.
    I reached slowly up the side of his head toward his ear. He immediately pulled away when I got too close. My hand went with him, staying in position, creating even more pressure, until he stopped and held still for a couple of seconds. Until he was able to realize that it wasn’t going to hurt him. Until he relaxed. Then I removed my hand.
    It happened. He finally began to think,
This is no big deal.
That bought him a release of pressure. More comfort.
    I reached again, a bit farther.
    When he didn’t retreat, I dropped my hand. The release of pressure sent a message, just as it had when I’d released the halter while teaching him to lower his head.
    One more time. Gaining an inch over